BMW Classic 5 series 1972 to 2003 review

Veloce Publishing has released a new edition of the book BMW Classic 5 series 1972 to 2003. This book tells the complete BMW 5 series story, in the pre-Bangle classic era, covering E12, E28, E34 and E39 models, the enthusiast cars that invented the modern sports sedan and created BMW’s ultimate driving machine. It’s a great book to all BMW fans and specially the owners or future owners of one of the classic 5 series models.

This new edition includes many new colour pictures, new specification tables about the BMW 5 series, updated text, a new “Meet the Tuners” section, and a new “easy use” index. It’s the complete story of all the classic BMW 5 series models.

The book starts telling the BMW’s story after the Second World War, those difficult years when BMW must adapt to market needs and people were looking for cost effective and basic transportation. Other significant models are covered that lead to the big come back of the Munich based automaker in 1972 with the E12 5 series.

BMW acquired a worldwide reputation for creating quality sports saloons. The popularity of the BMW models in the US was growing after the setup of BMW North America and the growing of sales. The involvement of BMW in local racing and also the popularity of the European Touring Car Championship lead to the success of the 5 series.

Every 5-series model is extensively covered on the book with lots of pictures, technical details, and context about the automotive market at that time. There is special attention on the book to electronic and engineering achievements that lead to the technical progress of the 5 series.

You will even find details of some of the popular rims that equipped the 5 series, every engine, suspension and gadgets the become popular on the 5 series, and even some cool ads of each model will make you smile.

The creation of BMW Motorsport is also covered on the book and the involvement of the Motorsport division with the 5 series, with nice pictures of the first M530, the first car that was formally offered as a motorsport model for sale to the general public.

Probably the most popular 5 Series among BMW enthusiasts is the E39-generation. Most of that popularity comes from the E39 M5 being the best M5 in the model’s storied history. But much of the M5’s success is attributed to the spectacular chassis that is the E39 BMW 5 Series.

The E39-generation is also extensively covered on the book, with lots of pictures and technical details of each of the models and motorizations. Both the standard and tuned versions of the M5 will make you realize why these cars became legends.

The book also has a BMW tuner database, where you can read further details about famous tuners of the 5-series, like Alpina, AC Schnitzer, Breyton Design, Dinan, Mk-Motorsport and Hartge. Also, the write-ups from BMW tuning legends are also very interesting, specially a foreword by Allen Hardy (America’s first BMW tuner), and a contribution from Kevin Bird of Birds, the UK’s first BMW Hartge tuning agent.

Lots of pictures about the cars prepared by Alpina, Ac Schnitzer, Dinan, etc are also present on several chapters, and that should be of special interest to every bmw tuning enthusiast.

This book was written by Marc Cranswick, who has been writing on the subject of classic high performance German cars for many years. He has been involved with BMW since the e12 and e21 were current models. He has lived and worked in several different countries, and has a very detailed knowledge of the automotive world, helping him to view the BMW 5 series from a world market perspective.

If you are a BMW enthusiast, this is a great addition to your automotive library. The text is very informative, and is great for readers that might not know about the details of BMW 5 series models of the past. There are plenty of details about the engineering behind the vehicles highlighted in the book, without being so technical as to alienate casual car lovers.

For more information go to Veloce Publishing www.veloce.co.uk.
BMW Classic 5 Series 1972 to 2003 by Marc Cranswick
Hardcover: 232 pages
Publisher: Veloce Publishing Ltd.; 2nd Revised edition edition (5 Sept. 2017)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781787110618
Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 2.5 x 25.4 cm